The design of conventional metal drawers, in order to meet the growing trend of DIY assembly and facilitate rapid assembly of vendors, generally aims to make assembly of the side panels, face panel and bottom panel as easy as possible. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 6,179,399 discloses a structure for coupling a face panel with a side panel. Referring to drawings 29 through 39 of that patent, it mainly includes a coupling assembly. The assembly 3 includes a longitudinal panel 9, which has apertures 32 on two ends to receive bolts for fastening to a wooden face panel. For assembly of the face panel, the assembly 3 is coupled on a side panel 5 of the drawer. The coupling structure of the assembly 3 and the side panel 5 includes a base plate 8 formed by bending and extending one side of the longitudinal panel 9. The base plate 8 has a pivot seat 12 to pivotally couple with a bracket 120. The bracket 120 is riveted to a case plate 10. The pivot seat 12 also holds an elastic reed 11. The bracket 120 has a pivot end extended to form a bucking section 38. In order to adjust the elevation of the face panel to match the clamped position of the side panel of the drawer, the base plate 8 has a turning knob 13 equipped with a cam. The cam can push the coupling edge of the side panel 5 to adjust the relative assembly position. Moreover, the side panel 5 further has a notch 6 corresponding to the pivot seat 12. There is a protrusive section 18 formed on a lower side of the front edge in the notch 6 and a trough formed in the inner side thereof corresponding to the turning knob 13. The notch 6 further has a vertical notch 7 formed on the inner side to enable the elastic reed 11 to be coupled between the notch 6 and the vertical notch 7. The bracket 120 is extended to form a lug to reach the vertical notch 7. The structure set forth above has a base plate 8 and a case plate 10, forming an opening to couple in the notch 6. By pressing the case plate 10 to compress the elastic reed 11 through the bucking section 38 at one end of the bracket 120, a clamping force may be generated to grip the side panel 5 of the drawer. And the lug extended from the bracket 120 can engage with the vertical notch 7 to form anchoring.
The conventional apparatus for coupling and clamping the side panel of the drawer mentioned above has a complicated structure. It requires a great number of elements and riveting operations. The elements also are formed in complicated shapes and difficult to match with one another. Hence the fabrication cost is higher, and production yield is lower. There is still room for improvement.